HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD
Last week I saw, together with Karen and Millie, a movie entitled "How to Save the World". It was one of the most inspiring movies I have ever seen. It was part of the South Asian International Film Festival at my favorite museum in NY - Rubin Museum of Tibetan Art. This is what the ad for the movie says: "It exposes globalization and its mantra of infinite growth in a finite world for what it really is: and environmental diseaster. But across India marginal farmers are fighting back. By reviving an arcane form of agriculture, they are saving their poisoned lands and exposing the bio-colonialism of multinational corporations. The movie tells their story through the teachings of an elderly New Zealander many are calling the new Gandhi." The New Zealander (80 years old but looking like 60 or less) sold his house in New Zealand and, together with his companion, went to live in India to do what he believes: to promote biodynamic farming. Long time ago, before globalization and genetically modified organism (GMOs) the farmers in India were farming this way. They used cow manure to make compost and used it as fertilizer. They exchanged grains with their neighbors and rotated crops. Now the grain is monopolized by big corporate companies which sell to farmers genetically modified grain, which produces seedless plants, hence they have to buy grain from them year after year. With the grain they get, often as part of a package, artifical (and often toxic) fertilizers and pesticides. In the beginning all this yields greater crop but after a few years the soil becomes dry and malnurished and it produces less (or becomes a desert entirely). The movie mentioned that some time ago there were a few hundred different variates of grain in India and now, with the genetic modification, they are down to 15. Isn't that absolutely awful? The big companies offer the farmers loans so in the end they get into debt if their land is not producing as much as before and they can't keep up with expectations of the companies' greed for profit. This has led to hundreds of farmers committing suicides. So the New Zealander encouraged the farmers to do composts - the first step to biodynamic farming - and gradually become a selfsuficient farm. Cows in India are abundant so dung is abundant as well. They fertilize naturally and gradually make the soil moist and rich which means that the soil also holds the water better so it resists times of draugh better. In the end the farmers produce a variety of crops, they exchange grains with their neighbors, farms help each other with collecting crops and planting - there is a sense of regained control, self-respect and work for the benefit of self and community. Farmers make enough to sustain themselves and workers, if they have any, and the surplus is sold at green markets for extra money needed to live. The production doesn't have to go up and the profits stay modest but enough to live in dignity and not being on the mercy of big and impersonal banks and corporations. It seems impossible that one man could save the world but it actually is possible. His encouragment and bringing back the knowledge lost time ago makes all the difference. He says at one point in the movie: "I don't concentrate on the problem, I live the solution." He is not fighting with the big corporations or goverments and trying to change their politics. He goes to the people, literally rolls his sleaves up and gets down to pick up the dung. The movie also shows how the new highways are being built in India but what do they do? They are the venue for the corporations to come in. If I tell people here, in the Western world, that the highways are often not necessary, they think I am a lunatic. But the movie shows exactly why the new technology often doesn't improve people's lives but just on the contrary. All these big charitable organizations which have a lot of money to spend have not done so much as one man mixing dung and making compost heaps. What is most important is that he gave the people hope that they can change their lives and be independent. Very often the charitable organizations make beggers of people, by giving them free stuff, instead of encouraging them to sustain themselves. I saw a lot of this in Nepal - I mentioned this long time ago, when I was there. What was also said in the movie was this: you are what you eat. If you eat food that was grown under the sun, on rich soil, where everything is picked by hand and processed by hand, by people who are connected to nature, the soil and the food they produce, you get nutriocious food, full of universal energy. You buy it from farmers who live near you so the food is fresh. 99% of what you buy in the big supermarkets is food that is processed with preservatives and all kind of artifical chemicals: bottles and bottles of soda and food packaged for six months' shelf life... While I was watching the movie I was thinking how this man, by encouraging people to do alternative farming brought them back their dignity and how we, the alternative medicine practicioners, can bring people their dignity when it comes to their health. Which brings me to today' communication and ethics class.
It was a 4 hour class tughts by a Western medical doctor. I think I mentioned this before that about 30% of what we study is the Western medicine. So first the woman gave us an overview of ethics from the perspective of Western medicine (and culture). We were talking about mutual respect, duties, obligations, best judgement, etc., etc. but all the time she was really concentrating on how we should remember to refer our patients to Western doctors because we "don't know enough". I think all of us in class were tired of hearing this attitude again... At one point the woman mentioned that if you don't feel capable to deal with the disease you should refer the patient to an MD, "even if it means you can't go on that vacation to Costa Rica" (implying you are going to loose money that patient would bring you). That would have never crossed my mind - to ask a patient to come see me if there was no need for a visit or if that person required emergency hospital care and I wouldn't refer him or her to make extra dough... Jesus Christ and all other Gods! The minds of these Wester MDs are just rotten with greed. Should a person who says such things be teaching ethics class? I think we were all kind of stabbed in our hearts but being very polite and not wanting to get into the argument, however, Autumn expressed her feelings in a very honest but very polite way. The woman insisted that we "just don't know" and it just showed how deeply inside she doesn't really approve of whatever we do. Her ignorance on our medicine was embarassing if she wanted to discuss it. I guess what brought all of us to alternative medicine and this school was dissatisfaction and bad experience with Western medicine. In theory the Western medicine may look good but in reality, and with the present system and control of the biomedical and pharmaceutical corporations, it does a lousy job and it does take away people's dignity. Anyone who has been in an emergency room and had to wait in pain for three hours before they could be seen by a doctor knows what I am talking about... We all believe that Western medicine is good for trauma and emergency (the system works badly but they do have some technology good for this). Of course, we would refer a patient with hemorrhage, cut limb, severe burn, etc. Everything else can be treated succesfully with Chinese medicine as we are learning it. It has been done for thousands of years. The ignorance of Western medical world on other modalities of healing is abysmal. We are learning how the Western medicine operates. Western docs see us as bread being taken away from them. Alternative medicine is very cheap: needles, herbs, essential oils, massage - all this is cheap. We can charge very modest fees. Western medicine got to be very expensive. Alternative medicine becomes again the medicine of the poor people. It seems MDs feel threatened. So even though we are not respected by Western medicine we are not going to "concentrate on the problem", we are going to "live the solution". I am not going to fight with Western medical world or even discuss what I do with Western doctors who disregard my medicine as medicine. I am going to see anyone who wants to see me in my clinic and provide best care I can according to the knowledge I get at my school. I am going to have free qi gong classes and free medition for the community in which I live. I am going to spread the word that a healthy lifestyle is the key to health. All our Eastern medicine teachers are calm but alert, well organized, expressing themselves clearly, treating everyone with respect and emanating this sense of health and wellbeing, composure, wisdom and modesty. The Western med teachers are not organized, forgetful, physically look unhealthy (except for Linda who teaches anatomy but she is also an acupuncture student at our school so...) . Our Eastern med teachers always stress how important is our self-cultivation, making sure we have enough sleep, eating regular meals, doing moderate exercise, and basically making sure we are in good physical and mental health so that we can provide help to our patients with clear mind. We should be also an example for them to follow. How can I trust a person who looks unhealthy that he knows what to do to keep me healthy if they themselves look like they were pooped? (pardon) Think of all these doctors going through intership who are in emergency for 12, 24 or 36 hours. Is that humane to be working so many hours? Can a practicioner so exhausted make good judgments? This whole Western system is just plain ridiculous and against common reason.
And finally for tonight: I got for my birthday a book from Autumn entitled "The Buddha in Your Mirror" which is a good book. Do you remember the famous line from Leo Tolstoy: "How to live!?" (I would add "to be happy") Here's a recipe from the book: "To be happy one must 1) have self-steem, 2) feel in control of one's life, 3) have an optimistic outlook, 4) be committed to a noble purpose. In addition having: 5) meaningful work and play and 6) maintaining lasting, loving relationship are also important components of living happily." The patients who come to our acupuncture clinic for treatments do not realize this is what they are lacking and they are looking for things "outside" of this for fulfillment and happiness. They look for absence of suffering, however, "true happiness is not the absence of suffering: You cannot have day after day of clear skies. True happiness lies in building a self that stands dignified and indomitable. Happiness doesn't mean having a life free from all difficulties but that whatever difficulties arise, without being shaken in the least, you can summon up the unflinching courage and conviction to fight and overcome them." Also, "various live views can undermine one's health, impede the body's ability to conquer illness and lead to psychological and spiritual maladies including depression, anxiety and fear. Among them are: holding others responsible for your own pain; interpreting others' unknowable thoughts and actions in a way that is negative toward you or believing others think more strongly about you than is actually the case; and deducting fatalistic general conclusions based on specific occurrances or limited information". There's help for our patients because we make them, through our treatments, look into themselves. We are not giving them pain and suffering killers. We are helping them build the self and take responsiblity for their health and life in general.
Good night everyone, sleep tight, and don't forget to be true to yourselves, work on expressing your full potential and acknowleding you are a wonder.
It was a 4 hour class tughts by a Western medical doctor. I think I mentioned this before that about 30% of what we study is the Western medicine. So first the woman gave us an overview of ethics from the perspective of Western medicine (and culture). We were talking about mutual respect, duties, obligations, best judgement, etc., etc. but all the time she was really concentrating on how we should remember to refer our patients to Western doctors because we "don't know enough". I think all of us in class were tired of hearing this attitude again... At one point the woman mentioned that if you don't feel capable to deal with the disease you should refer the patient to an MD, "even if it means you can't go on that vacation to Costa Rica" (implying you are going to loose money that patient would bring you). That would have never crossed my mind - to ask a patient to come see me if there was no need for a visit or if that person required emergency hospital care and I wouldn't refer him or her to make extra dough... Jesus Christ and all other Gods! The minds of these Wester MDs are just rotten with greed. Should a person who says such things be teaching ethics class? I think we were all kind of stabbed in our hearts but being very polite and not wanting to get into the argument, however, Autumn expressed her feelings in a very honest but very polite way. The woman insisted that we "just don't know" and it just showed how deeply inside she doesn't really approve of whatever we do. Her ignorance on our medicine was embarassing if she wanted to discuss it. I guess what brought all of us to alternative medicine and this school was dissatisfaction and bad experience with Western medicine. In theory the Western medicine may look good but in reality, and with the present system and control of the biomedical and pharmaceutical corporations, it does a lousy job and it does take away people's dignity. Anyone who has been in an emergency room and had to wait in pain for three hours before they could be seen by a doctor knows what I am talking about... We all believe that Western medicine is good for trauma and emergency (the system works badly but they do have some technology good for this). Of course, we would refer a patient with hemorrhage, cut limb, severe burn, etc. Everything else can be treated succesfully with Chinese medicine as we are learning it. It has been done for thousands of years. The ignorance of Western medical world on other modalities of healing is abysmal. We are learning how the Western medicine operates. Western docs see us as bread being taken away from them. Alternative medicine is very cheap: needles, herbs, essential oils, massage - all this is cheap. We can charge very modest fees. Western medicine got to be very expensive. Alternative medicine becomes again the medicine of the poor people. It seems MDs feel threatened. So even though we are not respected by Western medicine we are not going to "concentrate on the problem", we are going to "live the solution". I am not going to fight with Western medical world or even discuss what I do with Western doctors who disregard my medicine as medicine. I am going to see anyone who wants to see me in my clinic and provide best care I can according to the knowledge I get at my school. I am going to have free qi gong classes and free medition for the community in which I live. I am going to spread the word that a healthy lifestyle is the key to health. All our Eastern medicine teachers are calm but alert, well organized, expressing themselves clearly, treating everyone with respect and emanating this sense of health and wellbeing, composure, wisdom and modesty. The Western med teachers are not organized, forgetful, physically look unhealthy (except for Linda who teaches anatomy but she is also an acupuncture student at our school so...) . Our Eastern med teachers always stress how important is our self-cultivation, making sure we have enough sleep, eating regular meals, doing moderate exercise, and basically making sure we are in good physical and mental health so that we can provide help to our patients with clear mind. We should be also an example for them to follow. How can I trust a person who looks unhealthy that he knows what to do to keep me healthy if they themselves look like they were pooped? (pardon) Think of all these doctors going through intership who are in emergency for 12, 24 or 36 hours. Is that humane to be working so many hours? Can a practicioner so exhausted make good judgments? This whole Western system is just plain ridiculous and against common reason.
And finally for tonight: I got for my birthday a book from Autumn entitled "The Buddha in Your Mirror" which is a good book. Do you remember the famous line from Leo Tolstoy: "How to live!?" (I would add "to be happy") Here's a recipe from the book: "To be happy one must 1) have self-steem, 2) feel in control of one's life, 3) have an optimistic outlook, 4) be committed to a noble purpose. In addition having: 5) meaningful work and play and 6) maintaining lasting, loving relationship are also important components of living happily." The patients who come to our acupuncture clinic for treatments do not realize this is what they are lacking and they are looking for things "outside" of this for fulfillment and happiness. They look for absence of suffering, however, "true happiness is not the absence of suffering: You cannot have day after day of clear skies. True happiness lies in building a self that stands dignified and indomitable. Happiness doesn't mean having a life free from all difficulties but that whatever difficulties arise, without being shaken in the least, you can summon up the unflinching courage and conviction to fight and overcome them." Also, "various live views can undermine one's health, impede the body's ability to conquer illness and lead to psychological and spiritual maladies including depression, anxiety and fear. Among them are: holding others responsible for your own pain; interpreting others' unknowable thoughts and actions in a way that is negative toward you or believing others think more strongly about you than is actually the case; and deducting fatalistic general conclusions based on specific occurrances or limited information". There's help for our patients because we make them, through our treatments, look into themselves. We are not giving them pain and suffering killers. We are helping them build the self and take responsiblity for their health and life in general.
Good night everyone, sleep tight, and don't forget to be true to yourselves, work on expressing your full potential and acknowleding you are a wonder.
posted by Asia Kabat at 7:12 PM
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